Friday, December 06, 2002

HOMESCHOOL LOCK-UP?

Regional school superintendent Bruce Dennison, tired of not collecting the student attendance bounty, has begun sending out squad cars to check on homeschoolers in Illinois. He says, "My responsibility is to enforce the compulsory attendance law." Illinois homeschooler Carol Severson answers, "He says that he is worried they are not getting a quality education. I would tell him to look in his own backyard."

Government school administrators are attempting to up the ante on homeschooling. They're losing money and credibility as the movement spreads. California has made noises that homeschooling is essentially illegal there.

The Fox article notes,

Ironically, one of the earliest reasons for the public school system was to spread a Christianity-based morality. These days, many homeschool parents decide to keep their children at home to infuse their education with religious ideals.

Homeschoolers are opting out of a government run system that increasingly seeks to inculcate kids with a secular, anti-religious worldview. The government schools rightly see this as a threat. Parents are asserting their rights as the primary source of learning in contradistinction to a government set agenda. Homeschoolers also are well-organized and highly active in protecting their rights as the primary educators of their children, which means they are also stand as a growing political force.

Are all those involved in government schools militant atheists? That would certainly come as a surprise to my father, a retired elementary school principal and recently elected school board member. I come from a family of teachers and received all my education from 'public' schools. And I've seen kids who were being homeschooled who didn't need to be. Homeschooling isn't for every child nor every parent.

But my wife and I have made a decision to homeschool our children. Like many (most?) homeschoolers, religious belief has played a role in that decision. The societal zeitgeist is hostile to that. But everytime hostility against homeschooling increases, it only confirms my decision that it's the right thing for us to do.